Be Led By Virtue

3 Jun

“If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.”  ~ John Lennon

At first glance, today’s quote sounds stupid.  It sounds childish.  It sounds hollow.  If it does, though, it is because our baser human nature does not want us to think about the implications of the quote because the quote is spot-on.

We “demand” many things.  Our demands, though, are often just paying lip service to important topics such as justice, equality, mercy and the like.  We say that we want those things.  We say that those things will make the world a better place.  Yet, while we are saying those things, we are also thinking about all the other things that we want.  Things that rank higher in our minds and hearts than the values we supposedly espouse.

Sadly, the things that rank higher for many people are not values.  They are all material.  Lennon hit the nail on the head when he said that we would have peace if we demanded it over material gain.  The pull of material gain and material goods is too strong for many people.  They abandon themselves to the search for more:  more money, more power, more prestige, more, more, more.

Would that every person woke up one morning and said, “I am going to work on establishing peace this day.”  Peace would come about quickly if that were the case.  Then, we could follow up with mercy, forgiveness, and the like.  In order to do so, we must be led by virtue rather than by the thought of material gain.

FAITH ACTION:  With everything you think, do, and say, be a peacemaker this day.